Victims of Fate
by L3ftOfCent3r
Summary: His life had finally been restored, giving him the chance to reconcile the time he'd lost. Her life was a constant struggle, meeting foes at every turn. Fate sought to remind them how quickly it all could change.


A heavy sheet of morning fog had settled over the town of Storybrooke, making daylight as obscure as night. The foggy conditions catered to Jefferson's stealthy nature, adding to the sense of peace he already felt as he strolled down the winding, wooded road. He had his daughter, _his_ Grace and for the first time in nearly 3 decades he was happy. A wistful smile curved up his lips as he strolled along, hands stuffed into his coat pockets and scarf strategically wrapped around his neck. He was caught-up in his thoughts—too absorbed in trying to think-up an after-school activity for he and Grace that he didn't immediately hear the sound of the fast approaching speeding car...

The squealing sound of the brakes made Jefferson spin around to catch a glimpse of yellow. With a curse he jumped out of the way and tumbled down the shallow drop-off at the edge of the road. It was a scenario that felt annoyingly familiar, and calling it "déjà vu" was an oversight. Jefferson could place its familiarity exactly!

An unamused scowl formed on his face as he picked himself up off the cold, damp ground. He walked back up to the road, dusting himself off just as the reckless driver sprinted around the yellow car.

"I'm so s—"

Emma Swan's voice fell flat and she froze at the sight of him. With a frustrated sigh, Jefferson placed his hands back in his pockets.

"Emma," he greeted, dryly, "Funny meeting you like this...again."

Emma eyed him suspiciously before glancing around at the familiar situation she found herself in. She remembered drugged tea and kidnapping and gun-pointing, all of which had followed her mistake of nearly running him over.

"Did you plan this?"

Jefferson rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to make some snide comment about "the world not revolving around her", but the ground below their feet gave a violent shake, silencing him. The earth trembled with a force that wasn't common to the area. Emma braced herself against the hood of her car as she was knocked off balance.

"WHO DID YOU PISS OFF NOW?" Jefferson shouted over the rumbling of the shaking earth as he struggled to stay on his feet.

It occurred to him that maybe the world did revolve around her after all.

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THIS IS BECAUSE OF _ME_?" Emma shouted back.

Jefferson's jaw angrily clenched. In spite of himself and the happiness he had finally recaptured in his own life, he forced himself to acknowledge the truth...

"Because, Emma, everything is always about you."

The ground abruptly stopped its shaking as if Jefferson's words had been the correct response to preventing some riddled booby-trap from ensnaring them. Emma removed her hands from the hood of the car and straightened. The foggy, tree-lined road was silent and still. Jefferson moved to stand at Emma's side and she looked up at him, questioningly.

"What was that?"

"I guarantee it's nothing good," he replied as he met her gaze, narrowing his eyes as he gave her a quick examination, "Where were you driving to so fast?"

Emma's lips parted to speak but the ground below their feet trembled and she found herself grabbing hold of him for balance. The earth's shaking grew more violent than before and the road suddenly cracked, breaking the asphalt in a perfect ring that surrounded them and the car. With the thunderous sound of an erupting volcano, dozens of giant fir trees burst through the asphalt, sending bits of broken cement to fly into the air and fall on their heads. Jefferson instinctively shielded Emma, pulling her low to the ground as he crouched protectively over her. Full grown trees, a hundred years worth of growth, surrounded them like a great fortress—or was it a prison? When the shaking and rumbling stopped, Jefferson stood to his feet, helping Emma to hers as they gazed up at the impossibly tall trees. There were no gaps between their trunks, no room to squeeze through, no easy escape. Emma walked over to the wall of trees, touching their bark to make sure they were real...and they were.

"Great!" she shouted as she slammed her palms against a tree, "How are we going to get out of this?"

"We?" Jefferson said the word with so much spite that Emma turned to see him.

He was half-seated on the hood of her car with his arms slack at his sides and his expression hostile.

"WE? _We_ was just Grace and I before you ran me off the road with your little yellow bug!"

Jefferson stood up and crossed the distance between them with his jaw clenched tight and his eyes threateningly dark.

"Now. Because of _you _and whoever you pissed off my Grace will think I've left her again. So tell me Emma," he said as he took an imposing step closer to her, "What's going on?"

Emma heaved a sigh. She was neither phased by his too-close proximity or the anger she saw in his eyes. In truth, Emma considered Jefferson to be "all sunshine and rainbows" compared to Hook and Cora.

"You mean you don't know? You haven't been watching through your _telescope_?"

Jefferson gave her a bored look.

"I've been trying to make-up for the 28 years that I've been separated from my daughter. Sorry that I'm not up-to-speed on current events."

Emma swallowed as she looked into his eyes and, for the first time, saw him for the grief-stricken father he had claimed to be. For the moment, she managed to overlook the fact that he had held her in his home at gun point.

"You were right," she confessed with a yielding sigh, "You were right about a lot of things. The curse. Other worlds. Me having magic."

Jefferson's eyebrows raised at that last word.

"You're not the only one," he said as he gave a nod towards the trees, "I haven't seen enchanted plants like this since..."

A haunted expression paled his face as he silently stared at the trees, causing Emma to grow impatient.

"Since _what_?"

With a gulp, Jefferson met her gaze and his eyes searched hers for confirmation that, this time, she'd believe what he had to say.

"Since Wonderland. The Queen of Hearts kept her kingdom guarded with some fairly vicious shrubbery."

Emma nodded in understanding in spite of her natural instinct to still scoff at such things—regardless of all the magical crap she, herself, had witnessed.

"Don't worry, Jefferson. The person behind this isn't from Wonderland. She comes from your," Emma paused to correct herself, "Our world. Her name's Cora. She's Regina's mother."

Jefferson glanced away as his brow wrinkled in confusion.

"Regina? I thought her mother was dead."

Emma shrugged.

"Yeah. Apparently, so did Regina."

"So—what does Cora want?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Revenge. Ultimate power. World domination. Those sorts of things."

Jefferson scowled and gave the blond woman standing before him a once-over.

"And you're the only one who can stop her," Jefferson pursed his lips as he glanced at their surroundings, "And you're trapped in a cage made of 100 foot-tall trees."

Jefferson sighed his irritation.

"I don't suppose you have a chainsaw in your Volkswagen?"

Emma rolled her eyes at his obvious lack of optimism in their current situation.

"Relax, Jefferson," she said as she walked passed him, "We're going to get out of this."

Behind her back, Jefferson shook his head and huffed-out a doubtful breath.

"How's that—you planning on flying us out?"

Emma ignored him. Instead, she reached into her pocket and pulled-out her cell phone. The sound of dial tones as she pressed a combination of numbers didn't fill Jefferson with any hope. As sure as he was that "Cora" was trying to keep Emma from something, he was even more certain that fate was trying to keep him from his daughter, from his happiness.

* * *

**A/N: I have no idea where this is going. I got bored at work so I wrote it. I get bored at work a lot, so I'll be writing more. **

**Thanks for reading! ;)**


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